kingfisher feathers

Chinese hair ornament, thought to have been worn by the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908). Made from gilded copper alloy worked into phoenix-shapes, decorated with pearls, other gemstones, and kingfisher feathers. Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.

These are old jewels in museums so they were made of kingfisher feathers during their times. In modern times kingfisher are animals under first-class state protection in china so diancui点翠 craftwork has been replaced by others such as shaolan烧蓝, dyed goose feather, particular blue paper and blue silk.

I finally finished it! 🐺🐺 I hope my mom will like it ☺ This is a mix between a wolf and a bird. That’s why he has feathers on the chest. And yes you’re right it’s a double exposure 😊well.. I tried.. ! I really love colorful and creative feathers , that’s why I drew so many of them on its head 😆 I’m currently working on another digital artwork! (Arttrade ) and I’ll upload a speedpaint of it on youtube!! I already worked 3 hours on it and not even the head is done 😂 🐺 .

References used for wolf anatomy, the bird (kingfisher) and the orchid ☺ (all real life photos, no art from others! )

My redesigns for the Raptor Squad:Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo. NOW they look like real Velociraptors! This was heavily inspired by @lexiconmegatherium and their gorgeous artwork. (x) (x) (x)

I drew these a few months ago, and my hand is still hurting from all the details. I drew Delta first (her colors are based off of a Saker Falcon), and then the rest of the designs followed after. Each girl represents a different Velociraptor color morph: Blue is “slate morph”, Charlie is “sand morph” Delta is “wild type” and the one who closest resembles what wild Velociraptors might look like, and Echo is “flame morph”, although Owen, Barry, and the paddock crew have collectively dubbed it “Pinterest Board in October”.

If the girls were wild Velociraptors and not genetically modified, they would not have their display feathers-Striped Kingfisher DNA and the DNA of several other bird species was inserted into their genome to create their unique markings-both to make them more visually interesting to park visitors if they were ever exhibited, and to make them easier to tell apart from a distance.

Um if you don't mind me asking, what is the hat disk with the veil called? Thanks for your time! (I hope I'm not a bother)

Hello! Of course it’s not a bother, I like to help! :)

The veiled hat is called “wéimào/帷帽”. I wrote a little on it in this post, and I also have a weimao tag. Below: historical weimao.

The original form of the weimao was the “mìlí/幂蓠”, a hat with a body-long veil that originated from the foreign cultures of the northwest. The mili became popular during the Sui dynasty (581-618), especially among ladies of the nobility who rode horses on public roads. The fancier veils were adorned with jade and kingfisher feathers. Below: mili in a historical drama.

The mili’s veil shortened toward the end of the Sui, and the new wide-brimmed hat with shoulder-length veil was known as a weimao. During the Tang dynasty (618-907), the weimao became so popular that edicts to wear the more modest mili were ignored. It was popular not just among palace women, but also among commoners who followed their lead. Below: weimao in historical dramas.

Kingfisher feather decoration has a long history in China dating back to the 6th century BC. Pieces like this were painstakingly made by cutting each individual filament from the feather, dragging it lightly across a special glue and then laying it into place next to the last filament, until each of the separate wire cells of the design is filled.

Feather reference images I made for the Gyrfalcon, the Kingfisher, the Osprey, and the Great Blue Heron.

Feel free to use these as references for your birds- but keep in mind that different types of birds have very different feather structures and wing types! If you would like me to make reference images for you like these, drop me an ask and I would be happy to do so.

I do not claim to own any of the photography used to create these images. These images are to be used for referential purposes only.Do not claim these images as your own work.

((Psst. If you know the connection between all of these birds, you get brownie points.))

For 2,000 years, the Chinese have been using the iridescent blue feathers of kingfisher birds as an inlay for fine art objects and adornment, from hairpins, headdresses, and fans to even panels and screens. While Western art collectors have focused on other areas of Chinese art including porcelain, lacquer ware, sculpture, cloisonné, silk and paintings, kingfisher art is relatively unknown outside of China.

Called tian-tsui (traditional: 點翠, simplified: 点翠, pinyin: diǎncuì, “dotting with kingfishers”), kingfisher feathers are painstakingly cut and glued onto gilt silver. The effect is like cloisonné, but no enamel was able to rival the electric blue color. Blue is the traditional favorite color in China.